Garden Furniture Outlet Quality Outdoor Furniture

The Perfect Patio

I live in South London and for most people like me space is at an absolute premium. In fact, just having an outside space can be considered a luxury. For this reason I do sometimes find it hard to understand why people don’t always give there outside space the same attention they do to the rest of their home. (and before you comment it is quite warm today and the sun is out)

So, some things to consider when planning your perfect patio.

Purpose of your patio. If you’re like me you’ll be using the patio for long summer nights and having a few drinks with good friends. I even sometimes take to the patio first thing in the morning (if it’s nice and bright) to have my tea and read the paper.

Understanding how you’re going to use your patio is key to ensuring you buy the right garden furniture, and that what you do end up with is fit for purpose.

Centre Piece. Will it be the table, a sofa, a Firepit or a Chimnea? The choices are almost endless, but again it comes back to how you’re using the space.

Our most popular choices are the sofas, because they give you the ability to truly relax and enjoy the outside, almost as if you were inside, particularly with the modular lines. There is very little maintenance, and they’re almost completely weatherproof.

 So, you’ve decided on what you’re going to put on the patio, now lets think a little about where it’s going to live. 

Much like you would in your living room, if you placing a sofa, it’s often a good idea to place the back edge against a wall or a fence, in order to maximise the space available. You should also think at this time about whether you are planning to move the furniture on a regular basis, in order to accommodate larger parties of guests (or even the sun!). Clearly with smaller pieces this is easier and if you only looking to put in something like the Treviso set with four chairs they can easily be moved.

For me the critical thing in situating your furniture is to make sure that it lives harmoniously with your plants, after all they play major part in setting the tone and feel of the outside environment.  Do you remember why you put that Hibiscus where it is? Probably because it loves the sun! So lets not then block out the sun with the back of a sofa!

My perfect patio is…. making sure that I can use the patio as often as I can, summer and winter, rain or shine.

I have simple tastes and have a metal table and chairs, with cushions on them.  I also have a parasol for the summer and a Chimnea for the winter. And of course the BBQ, but that’s another story altogether.

The Garden Furniture Team

Ceramic Pots

I came across these the other day and thought just how nice they looked.

Quite quirky and not at all like the normal planters we see.

This planting system is designed for small spaces, including table-tops and is made out of ceramics, as opposed to the normal terracotta. I think this is even versatile enough to brighten up most homes or even offices.

The company that makes them, Good Erdle, is run by a father and son team from their small studio in Illinois.

The Elliott Planters come in a range of sets. Using two four or eight of these you can make designs to suit you space – if you go for eight units you can even make a full circle.

These innovative planters wont leak, but the designers does advise that you  can fill the legs with sand stone or even charcoal to absorb the draining water.

The Garden Furniture Team